Quick way to Skin a Kiwi

I saw this process on a news clip awhile back and just now had some kiwi to try it out. It works pretty slick and you don't end up with a lot of wasted fruit on the skin. Plus you get a perfect sphere to slice up.

I made a pumpkin cheesecake over the weekend with fresh pumpkin that I had roasted. (I apologize in advance for taking you to a website that has obnoxious music playing). It was very, very yummy! A little on the rich side…just my kind of thang. I followed the recipe exactly as written except I had to cook it longer then it said, maybe 15 minutes. I don't have a spring form pan here so that might have made the difference.

I had to look up the water bath method because I wasn't quite sure what that meant. It is exactly like it sounds - I boiled some water, put the cheesecake pan on a cookie sheet with high sides, put the pan in the preheated oven and then poured the water into the outter pan. I used maybe 5 or 6 cups of water. After about an hour I checked in and there was plenty of water and I didn't have to add any additional. My plan is to freeze the cheesecake into smaller bites after we've gorged ourselves!

Pumpkin Biscuits

Yes, I had a lot of left-over pumpkin so I'm trying out a few recipes to use it up. I got this one from my Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson, page 482.

Pumpking Biscuits
2 c flour (I used 1 c white and 3/4 c whole wheat)
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt (I left this out)
1/2 t ground allsice (I used 1 t chili powder but could have used more)
3/4 c canned pumpkin (I took my roasted pumpkin slices and mashed them up with a fork)
1/2 c soy milk (I used 1% milk)
3 T corn oil
1 T maple syrup (I used 1 T molasses)

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. (I went for 400° because I had something else in the oven that I didnt want to bake that high - didn't seem to affect the cooking time) Lightly oil a baking sheet and set aside.
2. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and allspice and set aside.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, oil and syrup until smooth. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir until dough is just mixed and holds together.
4. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface (I used semolina) and roll out to about 1/2-in thick. Using a biscuit cutter or small drinking glass, cut the dough into 2-in rounds and place on the baking sheet. Reroll scraps and cut more (keep in mind that the more you handle the dough, the tougher it will be). They should rise a little but they won't spread out on the pan so they can be pretty close together.
5. Bake on center oven rack until golden brown on top, 12-15 minutes.

Recipes says it makes 10 (I made 8)

I had half with peanut butter and the other half with honey - honey was better! Tim strongly suggests just peanut butter.

Roasted Pumpkin Tostada

We sent a friend a birthday card last month that had this recipe for Roasted Pumpkin Tostadas and I've been waiting to try it out. I've never cooked with a pumpkin before and I wasn't sure if the pumpkins you would normally use for carving would be any good. I've read where you need to use a pie or sweet pumpkin but wasn't sure I'd find one here in town.

So I went ahead and got a small pumpkin and thought we should try it anyway. I carved a small portion of the pumpkin into the short strips like the recipe called for.



The pumpkin didn't get golden brown in the oven, like it suggested, but I was afraid to let it go any longer – I didn't want the pumpkin to be all mushy. Next time I will sprinkle the pumpkin with some chili powder before roasting.

I also didn't roast the red onion with the pumpkin because it didn't make sense that the onion and pumpkin would take the same amount of time in the oven to roast. I thought the onions would end up as burned threads. I decided to grill them in a frying pan.

We also decided not to fry the tortillas. We're trying to be a little healthier so Tim grilled the tortillas in a dry cast iron skillet until browned and then we put them on a pan, added the pumpkin and the onions and popped them in a 350° oven for maybe 15 minutes. We couldn't wait any longer and w/o the extra oil I doubted that they were get more crisp so we ate them as they were.

They ended up folding them over like you would a taco. The pumpkin isn't as sweet as yams or sweet potato and had a really nice flavor. They were really good with a dollop of sour cream on them! And there's leftovers!

I'd like to try pumpkin with a chipolte flavor. I think I'll have to try this out with the rest of the pumpkin. Happy Halloween!